04-16-2005, 09:18 PM
While fumbling around with the research for the 'Use It Up' entry for the site, I found some info, and luckily a few demonstrative quotes, from three of the four men referenced in the song and their "Use it Up" attitudes towards life.
It seems the G-man has an appreciation for those who do, or more precisely: those who do AND write about it.
I've noticed the theme from "Courage" stretches into "Use It Up." The notion that life is a series of opportunities, the result of how you handle those opportunities being your measure of success or failure in the end. You could probably find a link between many of the men and women (now that I think about it, there aren't many women) Gord writes about besides those in "Courage" and "Use" (Fox, Thompson, Trudeau, Milgaard etc.) and that 'never give up, defy the odds, acheive what you need on your terms' kinda philosophy.
Post modernism also links Maclennan, Carver and Gardner, and has been a pretty obvious theme of Gord's which I think was best described by Bobby when he talked to Mike Downie in Heksenketel: "You know Gord... He's constantly re-evaluating."
Anyway, just thought it might shed a little light on that magnificent mind of Gord's. Here's the quotes which highlight some of that fearlessness and post modernity, and then we can all go back to not giving a shit:
About Carver: "...what his highly-acclaimed stories tell (us) about others: the grind of poverty, the ruin of alcohol, the endless threat of breakdown and break-up, the resolve of those who keep going when their only sure direction is down." (That last bit coulda come straight outta "Courage")
From the mouth of Gardner: "All my life, I've lived flat out. As a motorcycle racer, chemist, writer... I was never cautious."
And finally Newman, who was never funnier than when played by Will Sasso on Mad TV: "It's not my style to look forward with optimism, or look back either in anger or emotion."
It seems the G-man has an appreciation for those who do, or more precisely: those who do AND write about it.
I've noticed the theme from "Courage" stretches into "Use It Up." The notion that life is a series of opportunities, the result of how you handle those opportunities being your measure of success or failure in the end. You could probably find a link between many of the men and women (now that I think about it, there aren't many women) Gord writes about besides those in "Courage" and "Use" (Fox, Thompson, Trudeau, Milgaard etc.) and that 'never give up, defy the odds, acheive what you need on your terms' kinda philosophy.
Post modernism also links Maclennan, Carver and Gardner, and has been a pretty obvious theme of Gord's which I think was best described by Bobby when he talked to Mike Downie in Heksenketel: "You know Gord... He's constantly re-evaluating."
Anyway, just thought it might shed a little light on that magnificent mind of Gord's. Here's the quotes which highlight some of that fearlessness and post modernity, and then we can all go back to not giving a shit:
About Carver: "...what his highly-acclaimed stories tell (us) about others: the grind of poverty, the ruin of alcohol, the endless threat of breakdown and break-up, the resolve of those who keep going when their only sure direction is down." (That last bit coulda come straight outta "Courage")
From the mouth of Gardner: "All my life, I've lived flat out. As a motorcycle racer, chemist, writer... I was never cautious."
And finally Newman, who was never funnier than when played by Will Sasso on Mad TV: "It's not my style to look forward with optimism, or look back either in anger or emotion."
